We’re celebrating tomorrow, though.  Having Friday off makes everything so much easier.  Sort of like celebrating Christmas in January, which we also do.  This way, everyone else is driving while we’re sitting home (enjoying the fire in our new fireplace) and we’re driving when everyone else is at home (or returning gifts at the mall.) 

So, let’s see. . .I’m not thankful at all for my oven (electric, and the stovetop, while easy to clean, can’t boil more than about 2 cups of water without a lid on the pot) or the dishwasher (designed to hold almost three whole pots.  Or dishes.  But not both.  And you still have to hand-wash half of them afterwards.) But I’m thankful for the washer and dryer being on the same floor as. . .everything!  I’m not thankful for the leaky skylight, but I’m thankful for being able to climb on the roof and patch it without being afraid of falling.  Oh, thankful for the fireplace, for certain.  Once we get the kids’ rooms set and all the boxes out of the family room, I’ll betcha I’m thankful for the wood stove, too.  I’m thankful that Audrey helped me make the Thanksgiving vegetable lasagne.  I’m thankful that the dog and the cat ate all the stuff that fell on the floor.  I’m thankful that Wawa and Spirits Unlimited were still open this afternoon. 

To be honest, there are a slew of mundane, silly things I’m thankful for.  I don’t need anything dramatic, anything that moves my world.  Just having things I like and happy family and little serendipitous events is enough to smooth over any rough spots.  So, Happy Thanksgiving!

I’ve got plenty to do, and I’ve been keeping busy, but at the same time I’m kind of stuck for a bit.  We have a bunch of boxes that can’t be unpacked until the kids’ carpet is installed, and we can’t unpack the family room boxes until the kids’ boxes are out of the family room.  We’re waiting for all the paperwork to go back and forth on the sale of the old house, and I’ve made all the requisite phone calls.  Nothing to be done there, except wait until closing.  So. . .I’m keeping busy making some meals in advance, dragging the leaf bags to the curb, doing laundry, letting the cats in and out, rearranging stuff I put away already. 

It’s interesting, because I’ve gone from a situation where my days were packed, and I’m not used to having time.  It’ll be different once I can start unpacking again, get started on teacher certification and maybe even go back to work, get the sewing set up. . .

Of course, right now my mold allergies were kicked up by the leaf cleanup, and my sinuses are exploding from the incoming weather, so what I’d >like< to be doing is taking a nap.  Heh.

We’ve been hearing a lot of them on the radio since the whole moving thing started.  Of course, anything from Friendly’s is stupid; I don’t know how their ad agency stays in business (and Teriyaki Chicken. . .topped with cheese. . .is just gross.)  However, even daughter #2 figured out how dumb the new one from Meineke was.  The scenario is a guy talking about his romantic wedding in a remote country church, and how after he gets lost, his car goes into a ditch because he didn’t get his brakes fixed at Meineke.  So while he’s waiting to get out of the ditch, his bride and best man, who’ve been in love behind his back, get married.  He concludes that the moral of the story is that he should have gotten his brakes fixed.  Carolyn was making a funny face at this, and had already figured out that in this case, the guy was clearly better off not having had his brakes fixed.  Duh.  Yeah, I should have fixed my brakes so I could have married her and then divorced her later when I found out she was cheating on me.